


Future Imperfect

by Dolimir



Category: Smallville
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-06-05
Updated: 2011-06-05
Packaged: 2017-10-20 04:09:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,700
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/208586
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dolimir/pseuds/Dolimir
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>Lex laughed, his mocking tones ringing off the walls.<br/>Clark dropped his head to his chest. “My Lex will never forgive you.”</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	Future Imperfect

**2021**

“It’s the only way, Kal-El.”

Clark couldn’t help but notice how the Watch Tower’s phosphorescent lighting had a tendency to make the unmasked portions of Batman’s face look positively vampiric. A direct contrast to the suave tan look that Bruce managed to pull off when he wasn’t battling criminals who were only slightly more insane than he was.

He sighed for what felt like the hundredth time. “But has he technically broken any laws?”

Batman pinched his nose piece and looked up at the ceiling as if praying for patience.

The Flash looked nervously between the two men. “He did laser his likeness into the side of Mt. Rushmore.”

“But he only did it because we blocked all of his attempts to contact General Warren directly,” Clark explained patiently. “He paid to remove his face and donated enough money to the park for a total overhaul.”

Batman slammed his fist onto the table. “He shouldn’t have had the laser in the first place.”

Clark turned in his chair to face him, his face passive. “Research and development isn't a crime.”

“What about his weather controlling device? Are you saying the hurricane you had to dissipate wasn’t his fault?”

“No,” Clark admitted. “It was his fault, but the same experiment ended drought in Ethiopia.”

“So one good deed cancels out a bad one?”

“No, of course not. But can you prove the hurricane was created with malicious intent?”

“You’re not seriously telling me you don’t think it was?”

“Not at all. I’m just pointing out that he’s not guilty beyond a shadow of a doubt, nor even by a preponderance of the evidence. An adequate lawyer will be able to sell a jury on his being creative in order to get U.S. officials’ attention. After all, he didn’t try selling the laser to terrorists. A good attorney will be able to make a jury believe that ‘accidents happen’ when wrestling with huge scientific concepts. And the attorneys that Luthor is able to afford will be able to convince a jury that we’ve overstepped our boundaries and are persecuting a man who has proclaimed to the heavens and anyone else who’s willing to listen that metahumans and aliens really do have too much power over this planet and its populace.”

“That’s bullshit and you know it!” Batman all but threw himself from the table.

Clark stood as well; hands on his hips, braced for whatever action might be necessary. “Is it? You know the statistics just as well as I do. Metahumans who live normal lives or use their powers for good barely have a sixty/forty lead over the ones who turn to crime or use their powers for not quite legitimate reasons. If we take justice into our own hands…”

“Luthor has been a thorn in the League’s side for over a decade now. He must be stopped.”

“I agree, but if we don’t have the law on our side, we’ll lose the support of the very people who allow us to do what we do unhindered.”

“He has a point.” Diana framed her face with her hands, elbows on the table, refusing to look at either man.

Batman sneered as he turned and stalked toward the exit. “I have no problem with vigilante justice.”

“Bruce!” Clark’s shout broke one of the League’s founding taboos, but at the moment he couldn’t make himself care. Batman stopped but didn’t turn to face him. Clark’s threat filled the air though no further words were spoken. Batman nodded once before he disappeared into the darkness of the hallway.

*~*~*~*~*~*

Lois, tapping her pen onto her steno pad, was driving Clark to distraction. Clark had learned long ago that she often tapped her internal thoughts out in Morse code, a byproduct of having grown up as an Army brat, which often gave him an insight into her state of mind. However, today she was just mindlessly tapping. No words. Heck, not even a decent rhythm.

But before Clark could ask her what was up, she all but lunged for her phone.

“Darla Anderson,” she said in a clipped voice to whoever answered the phone.

Clark immediately recognized the name as the head of Luthor’s PR department. Without conscious thought, he turned up his hearing.

“Hello, Darla Anderson speaking.”

“Andy, it’s Lo.”

“Hey, girl. You still owe me lunch.”

“Saturday at two. The Cheesecake Factory.”

“All right, Ms. Oh-So-Not-Subtle. What do you want?”

“I just want to know where your boss is.”

“You mean right this second?”

“Yeah.”

“Let me see.” Clark could hear her turning pages in the background. “Kyoto, Japan. Why?”

“When’s his next scheduled press conference?”

“I don’t currently have anything on the books. Is there a problem?”

“No.” Lois unconsciously bit her pen. “Two. Saturday. Be there.”

“Girl, with cheesecake calling my name, I’ll even come early. Ciao.”

As soon as Lois placed the receiver back on the cradle, she went back to her mindless tapping.”

“Something on your mind, Lois?”

Lois looked over at him but didn’t stop her tapping. “When was the last time you saw Luthor?”

“In person?”

“In person. On television. Anywhere.”

“Well, last night on channel--”

“Repeat.”

“CNN just did--”

“File footage.”

“The press conference we attended--”

“Four weeks ago.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“So?”

Lois finally stopped tapping, laid her pen and her pad on her desk and stared straight at Clark. “When has Luthor ever gone a month between press conferences?”

Clark frowned, realizing she had a point.

“Luthor loves the spotlight. Hell, he’s almost as big of a publicity ho as Trump is.”

Clark opened his mouth, but she beat him to the punch. “Even when he’s not announcing some invention or breakthrough, he’s giving his opinion on local politics or the arts. When was the last time he was mentioned in the society page?”

“I...I...don’t--”

“Three weeks ago. He was at the hospital fundraiser. But there hasn’t been a peep from him since.”

“So?” Although his tone was exasperated, his stomach was in knots.

“How can the third richest man in the world simply fall off the face of the earth, Kent? Answer me that.”

*~*~*~*~*~*

Patrol over Metropolis that evening was quiet. No burglaries. No fights. No lost puppies. Which was probably a good thing considering that his concentration was shot.

Lois’ words kept repeating over and over in his head until he found himself hovering over Kyoto scanning random buildings in the attempt to find any sign of a familiar bald head. But despite his powers, he found no clue as to the illusive billionaire’s whereabouts.

Clark flew straight back to Metropolis without even stopping to play with his favorite pod of grey whales.

If Luthor had been kidnapped, surely the upper echelon at LexCorp would be in a panicked state, but all indications were that it was business as usual.

If he were on vacation, wouldn’t there be photos plastered all over the tabloids documenting his latest exploits or conquests?

But there weren’t.

So just where in the heck was he?

*~*~*~*~*~*

In high school, journalism had never been Clark’s passion like it had been for Chloe. But when he went to college, he discovered that he was good at talking to people. They trusted him and because of that trust he was able to break stories that more seasoned journalists would sell their first born to write. But the biggest draw to journalism was the ability to network with law officials, thereby allowing him a modicum of damage control over his alter ego.

Over the years, he also discovered he was really good at research. Yet after two weeks, he was still unable to find any trace of Luthor, which wouldn’t have been so bad but others were starting to notice the mogul’s disappearance as well.

LexCorp’s PR department was besieged with inquiries, but they continued to toe the company line that everything was okay and that Luthor was simply busy with corporate negotiations.

Finally, in desperation, Clark phoned Bruce, but before he could say a word, Bruce answered his questions.

“I haven’t done anything.”

“I--”

“If Luthor wants out of the public eye, he has the money and resources to make sure he’s never seen or heard from again.”

“Do--”

The phone went dead and Clark snapped it shut and shoved it in his pocket.

Once, before they became nemesis, Lex had confided in Clark how he had scared Nixon straight for a little while by giving him a small taste of what it felt like to be totally erased from all public records.

That was fifteen years ago. Now, if Luthor wanted to make a medium-sized city disappear, he could probably arrange it.

So how do you find the unfindable, he wondered? And more importantly, should he even try?

*~*~*~*~*~*

 

Days flowed into weeks, which morphed into months, and still there had been no Luthor sightings. The media went into an absolute feeding frenzy, but despite the reporters camped outside every compound and building LexCorp and its subsidiaries owned, no one so much as caught a glimpse of the man. False leads and supposed sightings poured in by the thousands, but none of them ever panned out. After a while, other stories crept back into the headlines and the general consensus was that Luthor had pulled a Howard Hughes.

While everyone else gave up hunt, the Justice League continued to search, mostly because they feared whatever new technology Luthor might reemerge with.

But all their fears went unrealized.

Lex Luthor had truly disappeared.

*~*~*~*~*~*

 **2001**

Lex opened the doors of his den, feeling decades older than any twenty-one-year old should. He hesitated for a moment, torn between the siren calls of the bar and the couch. In the end, the bar won. Even as he poured himself a snifter of brandy, he debated the pros and cons of following it up with tequila. While the temptation was great, he had an appointment in the morning and it was important enough for him to have all his facilities about him.

“Frustrating, isn’t it?”

Lex spun toward the familiar voice and found he was staring at a reflection of himself. While his doppelganger looked nearly his age, he could tell by the eyes that he was quite a bit older.

“You realize that no matter how many times you ask for the truth, he’ll never give it to you. You are a Luthor, after all.”

“Who are you?” Lex demanded, finally finding his voice.

His image laughed heartily, then sobered, but kept his knowing smirk. “No, Lex. I’m not a figment of your imagination or some kryptonite freak here to cause havoc, at least not in the traditional sense.”

“Kyrpto--”

“The meteor rock. That’s what it’s called. Kryptonite.”

A hundred questions whirled through Lex’s brain, but he only spoke one of them aloud. “Then what are you?”

The figure relaxed against the back of the leather couch. “I’m you, twenty years from now. Your particle accelerator project works...eventually.”

“I cancelled--”

“Yes, but you later reactivate it.”

“How--”

The older Lex waved off the question he knew would be coming next. “There’s time for that later. Right now, I need to prove to you that I am who I say I am.”

Reluctantly, Lex nodded.

“I always wanted to time travel, ever since I read about it when I was twelve. It became an obsession after my mother died because I wasn’t by her side when she finally passed. So confident was I in my abilities to create the uncreatable that I came up with a password for myself, so I could verify who I said I was when I went back in time to talk to myself.” The older Lex chuckled again. “The first code I came up with was 'Brussels sprouts'. I even went so far as to put an underscore between the words. But then I inadvertently revealed my distaste for them during an interview with some teenybopper magazine when I was fourteen and worried that someone might be able to puzzle out the code, so I changed it to agemoahpla, which is alpha and omega backwards.”

Lex blinked, unable to speak.

“You want more?”

Before Lex could shake his head, the figure continued. “You didn’t kill Julian, despite all of dad’s silent innuendo and accusations. Mom did. We remained silent to protect her, but the strain was too much to bear and you had a psychotic break that resulted in your being transferred to another school. Not that you currently remember any of this. In two or three more years, dear old dad will have you committed to Belle Reve, but only after slowly poisoning you. Don’t look so shocked. You know, as well as I do that he’s always found other ways to control you. But you finally got too close to the truth and he dealt with you like the enemy he saw you as.”

“What truth?”

“The truth that he murdered his parents for their insurance money. Yes, his empire is built on the blood of your grandparents.” The older Lex took a sip of his brandy. “While you’re in Belle Reve, you’ll receive several electro-shocks that will make you lose six weeks of your life. You’ll become obsessed with discovering what was taken from you and during some highly questionable experiments, you’ll remember everything.”

Lex clutched the bar to keep from swaying.

“For years you fought to get dad’s attention. Then for years you fought to keep from becoming him. But in the end, you not only become everything he was, you’ll become more. You’ll rule Metropolis like a king. You’ll even set your eyes on the White House, and even though you’ll spend eight years as the leader of the Free World, you’ll never have the love and acceptance you so desperately crave.”

“Your mere presence here should alter the timeline. Now that you’ve told me...”

Lex’s older self laughed harshly. “Do you honestly think this is the first time I came back? No, Lex. I’ve tried several times, but it always ends up the same way, sometimes even worse. No, Superman must die.”

“Superman?”

His twin stood, then joined him at the bar. “If I remember correctly, you’ve just come back from the Kent Farm. You went there with your heart on your sleeve, practically begging your best friend for the truth, which he refused to do. Again.”

“I don’t--” Lex stopped as his older self laid a finger over his lips in a gentle, almost fatherly way.

“You’ve known Clark was different ever since you ran into him on the bridge. Given the strange things that happen in this charming little hamlet, you’ve wondered if, perhaps, he was a meteor mutant, which actually wasn’t a bad guess given the evidence you have at hand. However, all your attempts to get him to confide in you failed and will continue to fail. Did you know that later this year you’ll actually kill a man to protect him?”

Lex started to tremble.

“Of course, even that won’t be enough to get the almighty Jonathan Kent to accept you. And since daddy dearest won’t acknowledge that you aren’t your father, Clark will never tell you the truth.” The older man shook his head as if erasing the memories that were filling his head. “It’ll take about three more years for your friendship to finally fall apart. One thing I have to say for me at this age, I didn’t give up easily.” The harshness of his voice chilled Lex to the bone. “Anyway, the long and the short of it is that Clark Kent is an alien. The last son of a dying race.”

Pushing himself away from the bar, Lex stumbled toward the middle of the room before spinning to face the intruder. “I don’t believe you.”

“Why not? The truth isn’t any less fantastical then some of the theories you’ve come up with so far.” The older man laughed. “His spaceship dragged the meteor rock to Earth. You lost your hair because of those little green rocks. Of course, your healing abilities are because of them too. While one hand gives, the other takes away. All the freaks that terrorized this town were because of him. How many people have died since he landed here?”

“That’s not--”

“Although I wonder if that was part of the Kryptonian plan all along? You see, Kal-El, that’s his actual name, was sent here to conquer the planet. I suspect the Kryptonians knew that the properties of their planet would mutate those who came in contact with the shards of their world. My supposition is that Kal-El was supposed to test his powers against these opponents. You know about his indestructibility, but he's also super fast and super strong. What the Kryptonians didn’t count on was the Kents?”

“The-the Kents?”

“When they took him in, they raised him with good Midwestern values. Well, except for the lying thing, but I suppose I could understand their reasons for that to a certain extent.”

He was losing his mind. That was it. Lex ran both of his hands over his head, but his counterpart was oblivious.

“Did you know the Kents found his ship in a cornfield? They even had it in the back of the truck when they rescued you after the shower? How’s that for ballsy? It was the closest we ever got to the truth until much, much later.”

Lex sunk into the closest chair. “Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why come back and tell me this?”

The older man closed the distance between them and casually lowered himself onto the glass coffee table in front of Lex, so that their knees touched. “I’ve given this a lot of thought over the years. From the moment we met Clark, we knew he was special. Not only because he survived the accident, but because he wouldn’t accept the truck, and he didn’t run to the nearest tabloid to sell his story. He seemed to genuinely want our friendship. And as you know, we’ve never had a friendship like his before. It made us feel...dare I say it? Loved. But the closer we got to him, the more we could tell he was lying to us. He demanded honesty for himself, but never reciprocated. At first I thought we might rule the planet together, but then--”

“You got over yourself.”

The older Lex smiled. “Something like that. But his lies...” He took a deep breath. “Do you know he will eventually represent truth, justice and the American way?”

“Truth?”

“Yeah, go figure.”

“So you blame Clark for--”

“Thinking I could escape my destiny.”

“What are you talking about?” Lex cringed inwardly, needing to know the answer and yet afraid of the truth.

“Clark made me believe I could be saved.”

“And we can’t be?” Lex whispered.

“No.”

“So why are you here?”

“To kill Clark Kent.”

“No!” Lex jumped to his feet.

The older man rose to his feet slower, almost regretfully. “Yes.”

“Why now? Why not go back to the time when he landed and destroy him when he was a child?”

“Because it was important for us to have that friendship, if even for a little while, to know that we were worthy.”

“Then why kill him at all?”

“Because that friendship will quickly grow gangrenous. It’ll fester and poison everything: your hopes, your dreams, your drive and determination.”

“So why tell me at all?”

“Because I didn’t tell you last time and you searched heaven and hell for the boy, only to end up serving time for his murder when all the evidence pointed to you.”

“I won’t let you do this.”

“You don’t have a choice.”

Lex felt the prick of pain before he heard the quiet pop. Looking down, he found a small dart protruding from his chest. He managed to pull it from his chest and throw it on the floor before his world turned black.

*~*~*~*~*~*

Lex leaned back in his chair and studied the brandy at the bottom of his tumbler. The last two days had been...interesting, to say the least.

People often said they’d love to relive their youth knowing now what they didn’t know then. He'd never really given it much thought himself, but now that he experienced it, he had to say he rather liked the experience.

In the last forty-eight hours, he had managed to set up a distraction that would get his father out of the country for several days, he had made several innovative changes to the crap factor, had set his plans for the future in motion and had won the three hundred and fifty-six million dollar power ball lottery. The funds would go a long way to getting his younger self out from Lionel’s thumb.

The only person who had said anything about his appearance was Gabe Sullivan who mentioned that he should get some sleep because he was looking a tad tired. Other than that, no one had realized he was actually decades older.

One of the side effects to his mutation was that he had stopped aging around the age of twenty-three, whether because of the original mutant shower or his subsequent exposure to kryptonite he never knew. While it had caused him some problems in his past, it served his purposes now.

He eyed the grandfather clock across the room. If memory served him correctly, which he knew it would, Clark should be busting into his den in less than five minutes to ask for a favor on behalf of Chloe. The young journalist wanted to score big in one of her classes and instead of focusing on one of the local yokels, she decided to go for the biggest name in Smallville. By setting his plans in motion now, he knew he would be saving her an eventual broken leg. Already there was a plus for the future.

Lex had spent considerable time trying to pick the exact right moment to implement his plan. While his friendship with Clark would stagger along for three more years, he had decided to execute his strategy after the first insult versus the first lie. If what Clark told him in the future was true, he didn’t even know he was an alien until after he was hit with Lex’s Porsche. Lex was generous enough to realize that it would take the boy some time to get used to the idea. But later...he had no excuse.

He remembered going to Clark and asking him point blank what had happened on the day they met. At the time, he only suspected that Clark was a meteor mutant like himself and would have moved heaven and hell to protect him. If only Clark had trusted him enough to tell the truth.

For a time, Lex even gave Clark the benefit of a doubt for he knew the boy was in physical pain when he visited him in the hospital. Somehow, Clark had temporarily lost his power. So if he had later taken Clark up on his offer to hit him with a hammer, he knew he would have done the boy real damage. But if he had lost his powers, what harm would there have been in telling Lex? It was a question that had nagged him for years.

But now, at this moment in his timeline, he knew Clark had somehow managed to regain his abilities. Now, they were back to their coy game of ‘don’t ask, don’t tell.’ Now was the time for vengeance, before Clark had learned to fly or discovered his other abilities. Although given his strength and speed, Clark would still be a force to be reckoned with, and because of those facts Lex had no guilt about killing him.

“Hey, Lex.”

Lex looked up to find the plaid-clad teenager standing in front of him with a smile so bright that it could probably run the plant for a month.

Apparently all his past sins were temporarily forgiven – for a price.

Right on time, he thought as he pressed the button beneath his desktop.

*~*~*~*~*~*

Over the years, Lex had learned to adjust the dosage of Kryptonite to keep Superman disabled, but without causing him too much pain – effective for keeping the Man of Steel in one place long enough for a civil conversation.

He worried that this younger version of Clark might not have the same resistance as his older self, so he futzed with the meteor rock containers he had placed around the wine cellar. He made sure the stairs were heavily seeded as were the window wells, but the rest of the kryptonite was evenly spaced to keep Clark weak, but not push him into unconsciousness.

As he finished placing the last box, he became aware of a gaze, heavy with emotion, directed at his back. He turned to find the boy staring metaphorical daggers at him. Lex moved to the chair he had placed in front of the boy and sat, curious to see how fast the boy could put the puzzle pieces together.

After several more moments of silence, Clark seemed to realize that Lex wasn’t going to be the first one to speak. “Who are you and what have you done with Lex?”

“What makes you think I’m not Lex?” Lex leaned back in his chair and leisurely crossed his legs.

“Lex would never hurt me.”

Which was probably true, Lex considered. Even in his own time he had always tried to leave Clark alone, despite the fact that he considered Superman fair game.

He shrugged. “I did have a lot more patience in my youth. Besides love always had a tendency to make me blind. But lying, no matter how sweet the face, just makes me irrational.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” While the words were spoken aggressively, Clark’s gaze couldn’t quite meet Lex’s.

“Of course not,” he said smoothly. Lex rolled his chair closer until Clark’s feet were practically touching the base of his chair.

“Your eyes!”

Lex smirked. “What about them?”

“They’re...they’re...”

“Older?”

Clark nodded. “What happened?” he asked in a voice barely above a whisper.

“Time.”

“Time?”

Lex nodded, amused by the boy’s confusion.

“I don’t understand.”

“It’s simple really. I offered you my hand in friendship and instead of being strong enough to reject it, you used it.”

“That’s not true!”

“Isn’t it?” Lex rolled the chair back several inches and made a big production of casually crossing his legs. “Did you or did you not come here tonight with the intention of asking me to consent to an interview with Chloe Sullivan, despite the fact you know I rarely grant them and despite the fact that only two days ago I asked you for the truth about what happened at the bridge and you turned your back on me?”

“I...I...”

“For two years I will continue to try and reach you. I will even kill a man to protect you, and still you will reject me.”

“Two? But we’ve only...that is...I...”

“I spend another two years trying to seduce you because the thought amused me. It was so delicious watching you try not to respond. Of course, I didn’t actively start trying to kill you until you became Superman.”

“Wh—what?”

“Oh, that’s right. You prefer your Kryptonian name of Kal-El.”

Clark blinked but remained silent.

Lex rolled forward again, his face inches away from Clark’s. “You know, if you had trusted me, I would have done everything within my power to protect you, but you could never see past my name. What did you think I’d do? Hand you over to a team of scientists? Even in the future, I didn’t do that, although why I never truly figured out. Did I demand that you join me in conquering the world? No. Well guess what, Kal? I did that all on my own.”

“I hurt you.” Regret tinged Clark’s whisper.

“No! You made me believe I was worth saving then deemed me unworthy of salvation and let the darkness swallow me.”

“I’m s--”

“Don’t!” Lex shouted. “You don’t get to say that now.”

Both remained silent for several moments as they tried to gather their thoughts.

“So you’re here to kill me?”

“Yes.”

“To what purpose?”

Lex chuckled as he leaned back in his chair. “So I can forget about redemption and focus on my destiny.”

“But you’ve always fought your destiny.”

“You can’t fight fate, Kal-El.” Lex shrugged his shoulders.

“Don’t call me that. My name is Clark. Clark Kent.”

Lex laughed, his mocking tones ringing off the walls.

Clark dropped his head to his chest. “My Lex will never forgive you.”

“He doesn’t have to; he simply needs to embrace his future.”

“Without me.”

“Without you.”

Lex leaned forward and grasped Clark’s chin. The boy struggled, but was unable to break Lex’s grip.

“You have the most fuckable mouth I’ve ever seen.”

“What?” Clark struggled anew, but Lex chuckled and released his grip. “Don’t worry, Clark. Your virginity is safe with me. The lust I felt for you is long gone.”

Without another word, Lex pushed his chair back several feet and stood, opening lead-lined boxes as he moved toward the stairs. The effect on Clark was instantaneous.

“Lex, please.” The boy gasped as he writhed on the floor.

Lex ignored him and opened another box, then another.

When he reached the bottom of the stairs, he looked back one last time. “Good-bye, Kal-El, last son of Krypton.”

He turned to start his ascent, but hadn’t even reached the first step when he staggered backwards, the force of the bullets penetrating his chest and slamming him back against the old stone wall. He blinked “Well, I didn’t foresee this little plot twist.” He huffed once in amusement, then slid down the wall.

*~*~*~*~*~*

“Clark! Clark, answer me!”

Clark opened his eyes ever so briefly, but long enough to see his Lex kneeling beside him.

“Box...”

“What?”

“Cl-close the...the...bo--”

He watched Lex push himself off the ground and stumble toward the closest box, moving toward the next even before the first lid had slammed shut. After several moments he raced back to Clark’s side and cupped Clark’s face in his hands. “We need to get you out of here.”

“Minute. Give me--”

“I don’t know if I got them all or not, Clark. The quicker we get you out of here, the better.” Lex stood, then straddled Clark’s body as he lifted him off the floor. Despite an overwhelming urge to go to sleep, Clark did his best to gain his feet, grateful he had Lex to lean against. “Come on, Clark. Just a little bit further.”

They both stopped at the bottom of the stairs and looked at the body of the older Lex, which slowly disappeared from view, startling them both.

“You...you killed him.”

Clark heard Lex try to chuckle, yet it came out as more of a sob. “Yeah, well who knew I’d turn out to be such an asshole?”

Clark’s foot caught on the bottom step and he lurched forward. Lex tried to break his fall, but they both ended up sprawled over the stone steps. Lex scrambled to his feet, intent on helping Clark, but Clark waved him off. Looking at where the body had been, he opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. He tried again. “I’m not a meteor mutant.”

Lex collapsed on the stair beside him. “I suspect I may be.”

Clark stared into his friend’s blue eyes. “I think...I think--”

But before he could say anything more, Lex pressed his index finger against Clark’s lips. “Believe it or not, despite all appearances and recent events to the contrary, I don’t want to know. Not now. Not after this. Maybe some day in the future, but not here.”

“But I want to tell you, Lex. I don’t want you to become him.”

Lex looked at the bloodstains on the wall. “I may not be able to escape this fate.”

“Please, Lex. Let me tell you that I’m--”

Placing his entire hand over Clark’s mouth, Lex shook his head. “No.”

Clark wanted to protest, but Lex’s eyes remained unmoved. Finally, he consented by nodding his head.

“You...committed...suicide for me.”

Lex huffed once in amusement, but said nothing.

“He implied that you loved me.”

Lex’s eyes flickered toward his face, then away. “Maybe I do.”

“Lex--”

“Enough to let you go.”

“Wha-what are you saying, Lex?”

“I’m saying goodbye, Clark.”

“Lex?”

“You know the way out, Clark.”

“But Lex--”

Moving stiffly, Lex pushed himself to his feet and climbed out of the wine cellar as if he were carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders.

*~*~*~*~*~*

 **2011**

“So, Smallville,” Lois Lane plopped on the corner of Clark’s desk, casually picked up his coffee cup and took a nice long swig. “Tell me again how long you knew Lex Luthor?”

“Three months.” Clark looked away from his computer screen and blinked in confusion at the non sequitur. “And what does Lex Luthor have to do with corruption in our city government?” He frowned at her and gently, but deliberately, rescued his Styrofoam cup from her grasp.

“It’s been almost ten years since he disappeared.” Her eyes scanned his desktop for something to eat.

Sighing, Clark moved his bowl of M&Ms from the right side of his desk and put it in front of her. “Again, I have to ask what any of this has to do with our story?”

Lois scooped a handful up and popped half of them into her mouth. “It doesn’t,” she mumbled. “I’m just thinking ahead.”

“To?”

“The anniversary of his disappearance. I bet we’d win a Pulitzer if we found him.”

“If Lionel, with his unlimited resources, hasn’t been able to find him during all this time, what makes you think we can?”

Lois frowned at the mention of Lionel’s name. “I still think Daddy killed him.”

“To what purpose?”

“Lillian’s money, of course.”

“But he doesn’t have Lillian’s money.”

Lois rolled her eyes. “Just because he claims he doesn’t have it doesn’t mean a thing.”

“He doesn’t and you know it. After all, you were the one who convinced the banker to show you the paperwork which turned the money over to Lex.”

“They could have been forgeries.”

“And you could be a natural blonde.”

“Ouch.” Lois turned to face him, her brows furled in concern. “Just what’s got your panties in a wad, Smallville?”

Clark sighed heavily. “What if Lex doesn’t want to be found, Lois? What if he likes his life the way it is? Who are we to intrude on his privacy and expose him to the world?”

“What if he turned out just like dear old dad, intent on ruling the world?” she countered. “Shouldn’t someone be checking up on him?”

“Lex isn’t like that.” Clark took his bowl of candy back and put it in his bottom drawer, frowning at his partner.

“You can say that for a fact?” Lois hopped off his desk and popped the remainder of the M&Ms into her mouth. “Based on a three month friendship over ten years ago?”

*~*~*~*~*~*

Clark squeezed his eyes shut as he cut through the Arctic air, not because of the cold, but out of frustration. He hated being manipulated. And yet, he couldn’t shake off the memories of an older Lex Luthor gripping his chin and leaving him to die in a roomful of kryptonite either.

But his Lex had saved him. Had saved him and walked out of his life in order to protect Clark from his future self.

Surely he wouldn’t resort to his father’s tactics. And with all the various meta-humans springing up all over the world trying to make a name for themselves, wouldn’t someone have caught his scent if he had?

Clark touched down just inside the fortress walls.

“How may I serve you, Kal-El?”

Clark sighed, not wanting to deal with the A.I., but knowing he didn’t have any other adequate resources. “I want you to scan for any sign of Lex Luthor.”

“As opposed to the four hundred and twenty-three times I’ve scanned for his presence in the past?”

“Yes.”

Clark often wished that the A.I. would vibrate or hum when it worked, that it did something, anything, to let him know it was actually complying with his requests instead of just humoring him. He walked into his bedroom and flopped himself on his bed while he waited for the report.

“No new sign has been found.”

“I want to try something different.” The A.I. waited patiently. “How many areas are impenetrable to your scans?”

“Nearly twelve thousand eight hundred and ninety-three.”

“And of those, how many have I personally checked out?”

“Two thousand fourteen.”

“And subtracting all Artic, Antarctic and desert climes with a mean temperature over ninety degrees Fahrenheit, how many do we have left?”

“Nine thousand nine hundred and eighty-one.”

“How many are big enough for someone to live comfortable or even luxuriously?”

“I do not understand the parameters, Kal-El?”

“How many are the size of a small castle or compound?”

“Three hundred and seventy-four.”

“And how many do not belong to Lionel Luthor?”

“Three hundred and thirteen.”

“Subtract out any place known to belong to a legitimate government entity.”

“Two hundred and one remain.”

“And taking out the homes and lairs of all known meta-humans?”

“Eighty-seven.”

“Print me a list of all those locations.”

“As you wish.”

*~*~*~*~*~*

Of the eighty-seven locations, he had discovered that twenty-nine were being used for illegal purposes and notified the appropriate local authorities. Two more turned out to belong to Lionel and fifteen were top-top-secret facilities for various governments.

It took him approximately a month of surveillance to eliminate the various compounds located all over the world. But when all was said and done, he was relatively certain he had finally found Lex’s home nestled in the Allegheny hills of West Virginia. The beauty surrounding the elaborate compound stunned Clark. The castle sat halfway up a remote hill and looked over a pristine lake.

The A.I. had discovered that the compound and the several thousand acres of surrounding land were held in the name of one Joseph A. Rosensmith. The A.I. further discovered that Rosensmith was the maiden name of Lex’s great-great-great-great grandmother.

Googling the elusive landowner, Clark found that he was a computer engineer who specialized in hardware and software for medical machines. His work was touted as brilliant and cutting edge by several medical journals, and while he often gave phone interviews, he gave no indication that he was interested in self-promotion.

Clark came up with several scenarios as to how to approach the situation, but in the end decided to go with the truth.

Ringing the doorbell, he tried very hard not to fidget as he waited for someone to answer the door. An elderly, bone-thin man, bent with age, answered the door.

“Yessah?”

“Hi. I’m Clark Kent with the Daily Planet. I’m here to see Joseph Rosensmith.”

The man grinned and shook his head in amusement, then turned and waddled away from the door. Clark was hesitant to follow, but stepped inside and shut the door behind him after the old man waved at him to follow. Cackling, the old man stopped at an intercom unit attached to the wall.

“Bubba, we have a visitor.”

“A what?”

“A vis-a-tor.”

“Here?”

“Well where in tarnation do you think he’d be? Of course he be here.”

“We have a visitor? Here?”

Though it had been years, Clark instantly recognized the voice.

“Dinna your Pa teach you no manners, boy? Now git up here and meet your guest, one Clark Kent from the Daily Planet by name.”

The intercom went silent.

“Go wait ‘n thar, boy.” The old man pointed to a sitting room, then waddled further into the house. Obedient, Clark did what he was told, but instead of sitting, he wandered to the built-in bookshelves and scanned the titles, immediately recognizing the books from Lex’s previous library. It was nice to know that some things hadn’t changed.

He couldn’t quite suppress the tiny jump he made as he turned and found Lex in the doorway, surprised that he had managed to move so silently. For a full minute, neither of them spoke as they drank in the presence of the other.

“It’s been a long time,” Clark finally managed to whisper.

Lex nodded, then seeming to remember his manners, pointed to a nearby chair.

“Thank you for seeing me.” Clark complied with the silent request and sat in the chair.

“I must admit that I’m surprised to see you,” Lex finally said in a quiet voice.

“Are you?” Clark stared at the chair opposite his, then up at Lex, but Lex remained standing and silent.

Clark leaned back into his chair, trying for casual, but suspected he failed miserably. “How have you been Lex?”

“Good.” Clark watched as Lex apparently chastised himself, then sat in the chair Clark had previously indicated. “You’ve managed to make quite a name for yourself at the Planet.”

“That’s not why I’m here.”

“No?”

“No.”

“Then why?”

Clark briefly closed his eyes. “Honestly, I wish I knew.” When he opened them again, he noticed the amusement in Lex’s eyes.

“I think I know.” When Clark remained silent, he continued. “It’s coming up on the anniversary of my so-called-disappearance. My guess is that your partner started talking about finding me and you ignored her until she pulled out the old nut not falling from the tree bit and you told yourself that you better check, just to be sure.”

Clark straightened in his chair, shocked at the accuracy of Lex’s guess.

“No, I don’t have your desk bugged, Clark.” Pushing himself to his feet, he gave Clark a nod. “Thanks for stopping by. I’m sure you can find your way out.”

“Lex, please.” Clark found his own feet and quickly closed the distance between them.

Lex stopped although he didn’t turn around. He dropped his chin to his chest and Clark watched as he clenched and released his fist in an effort to expend his energy.

“Why?”

“You know why, Clark.”

“No, I honestly don’t.”

Lex looked over his shoulder, but didn’t turn. “We both needed time and space.”

“What about our destiny?”

“Fancy words from a boy grateful to have a friend.”

“You gave up everything for me, Lex.”

“The alternative was to destroy you.”

“You wou--”

“I think the past speaks for itself, Clark.”

“But that wasn’t you, was never you.”

“No, but it would have been if I had stayed.”

“You don’t know that.”

“I couldn’t take the chance.”

Both of them remained silent for several moments.

“Do you hate me now?” Clark asked in a whisper.

“No. I never have. And I suspect, given what he could have done and didn’t, he didn’t either.” Lex’s met Clark’s gaze and gave him a sad smile. “Good bye, Clark.”

“No.”

Lex actually stayed put, although he blinked in confusion as Clark moved to stand before him.

“You don’t get to leave me again.”

A frown blossomed over Lex’s face as he gave Clark his full attention. “I--”

“I’m an alien,” Clark blurted out loudly. “I’m from Krypton. I’d like to say I’m the last one, but they keep popping up like angry roaches, but I think it’s safe to say that I’m the only one currently on the planet at the moment.”

Even though Lex’s tone betrayed nothing, his eyes danced with humor. “Like roaches.”

“I’m…I’m also Superman,” Clark pressed.

“I know.”

“You know?”

“Yes.”

“But how could --”

“He told me.”

“That I was an alien?”

Lex nodded. “And that you were Superman.”

“How did he know?”

Lex shrugged, a gesture that looked totally foreign on him.

“That day on the bridge, when you hit me--”

“Was the day that you found out.”

“Yes.”

“I know. Over the years I’ve been able to put the various pieces together.”

Neither of them spoke, choosing instead to study each other’s shoes.

“I miss you,” Clark whispered.

“You barely knew me.”

“I know.” Clark lifted his eyes and met Lex’s. “But I feel...I feel like we were supposed to have a destiny, together, and that it was cut short way too soon. For years now, I’ve felt like I was missing some vital part of myself, like a limb.”

Lex nodded. “I know the feeling.”

“So why did you leave?” And even though he didn’t say me, the word still echoed around the room.

“You know why, Clark.”

“Because you weren’t sure you could fight your destiny.”

Lex nodded again.

“But you did, Lex. Look what you became.” Clark gestured to the grandeur around them. “You’ve become one of, if not the most, respected leaders in your field.”

“But it’s not ruling the world, is it?”

“I don’t understand.”

“Yes, you do.”

“Was I that much of a temptation?”

“You have no idea.”

“Because you wanted me?”

“Not like that, not when I knew you. But...but given what he told me, I could see how it might have become true.”

“And now?”

“And now, I’m happy,” Lex said softly. “Without dad riding me, trying to turn me into Alexander, I have discovered that I don’t particularly want to rule the world.”

“But the scientific world--”

“Is totally mine.” Lex grinned brightly.

“Tea is served.” The old man shuffled into the room and dropped a silver tray heavily onto a coffee table. “You two outta sit for a spell, take a load off. Lord knows your eyes are going to cross if you keep standing so close to each other.”

Both Clark and Lex guiltily took a step back from each other, although neither of them moved toward the chairs.

“Clark will be--”

“Staying for dinner,” the old man said firmly. “Already told Cook to set an extra place. No point sending the boy down the mountain without a good meal in his stomach. Tain’t right. A man is known by the hospitality he gives his guests and considering he’s the first guest you’ve had in several months, you’ll do right by him, Bubba, or so help me--”

Lex raised both hands in a placating manner. “Okay. Okay. He’s staying for dinner.”

Clark grinned hugely, which made Lex frown at him. Sighing in defeat, Lex plopped gracelessly into the closest chair.

The old man stared imperiously at Clark then at one of the remaining chairs.

“Yes, sir.” Clark quickly obeyed, trying hard to contain the snicker that welled up within him.

The old man stared pointedly at both of them, nodded once, then shuffled out of the room.

“Bubba?”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

Clark finally released his laughter once he was sure the old man was out of hearing range. “I don’t remember you being so whipped.”

“I didn’t see you standing up to him.” Lex sniffed haughtily.

“Hey, I’ve learned to choose my battles over the years, and quite frankly, I’m not sure I could beat him.”

Lex’s lips curled ever so slightly. “I know I can’t.”

“Where did you find him?”

“I didn’t. He found me.” Leaning forward, Lex poured tea into the two cups, then handed one to Clark.

For lack of a better plan, Clark took a sip. “So?”

“So how’s Lana?” Lex asked, ignoring the hanging question.

“Married and very pregnant with Whitney’s second child.”

“And you--”

“Got over my crush on her years ago.”

“And Chloe?”

“Works for CNN, traveling all over the world to shed light on situations most people don’t want to acknowledge.”

“She always was a go-getter.”

“She makes me look lazy in comparison.”

“And your partner, Lane?”

“Chloe’s cousin.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“Have you told--?”

“No. No one but Chloe and my mom know.”

“I...I heard about your father. I’m so sorry.”

Clark nodded, momentarily dropping his eyes to his teacup. “Thank you.”

“He was a good man.”

“He was a stubborn man.”

“He had to be. He had a big secret to shoulder.”

Clark looked up from his cup. “He never accepted our friendship.”

“I think our sneak peek into the future proves he had good reason to be suspicious.”

“You don’t know that--”

“Even you’re not that naive, Clark.”

Clark set his cup back on the tray and leaned back in his seat. “Perhaps not. But what about now?”

Lex let his eyelids fall shut. “What about now?”

“You don’t think that we--”

“Could what?” Lex opened his eyes and sat his teacup beside Clark’s. “Be friends again,” his tone slightly mocking.

“Why not?”

“What? You’ll just drop by whenever you have a free moment and we’ll have lunch?”

“It’s not like I can’t stop by everyday. So again, I ask why not?”

Lex took a deep breath and let it out slowly as if reluctantly gearing himself up to speak the words in his head. “Do we really have anything in common anymore?”

“Did we ever?” Clark countered. Before Lex could respond, Clark continued, “I was just a farm boy who saved your life, then refused your gift. I sometimes think the novelty of my refusing to let you do for me was what kept you interested. I’ve often wondered if you’d ever have taken an interest in me if dad had let me keep the truck.”

“Perhaps not,” Lex admitted. “But I think finding you hanging from a cross in a cornfield would have piqued my interest again.”

“Probably.” Clark worried a spot on his jeans, refusing to look up for a moment. “I used to enjoy your stories about history.”

A smirked grew on Lex’s face.

“You were the smartest person I knew.”

Lex opened his mouth to comment, but closed it again, apparently deeming it better to remain silent.

“I liked that you were so protective of me.”

Lex cocked his head to one side.

“Other than my parents or Chloe, I’ve never really experienced that.”

“Even protectors should have someone in their lives that worry about them,” Lex said softly.

Clark slid from his chair and knelt beside Lex’s chair. “Is it selfish to want that for myself?”

Lex swallowed hard, then shook his head.

“And even though you’ve kept out of sight all these years, you still ran interference for me with your father, didn’t you?”

“I don’t--”

Clark placed two fingers over Lex’s lips and shushed him softly. “From this moment on, I’d like for us to agree to only speak the truth to each other, no matter how painful or scary it might be. Deal?”

He waited until Lex nodded before he removed his fingers.

“Tell me you haven’t thought about me since you left me on those stairs ten years ago.”

“I can’t,” Lex whispered.

“And that you haven’t wondered about what we might have become together.”

“I can’t.”

“You gave up everything to save me,” Clark whispered knowingly.

“I did it to save myself, Clark.”

“Not totally.”

“Perhaps.”

“And perhaps you knew I’d find you one day.”

Lex shrugged. “Not knew. Hoped, perhaps.”

“So why are you fighting so hard against this?”

Swallowing hard, Lex closed his eyes. “I’m afraid that I’ll become--”

Clark took Lex’s hands and held them in both of his own. “You won’t. Not now.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“I know.” Before Lex could protest his assertion, Clark leaned forward and brushed his lips over Lex’s. Lex gasped softly even as Clark cupped Lex’s face in his hands. “I know.”

Leaning in again, Clark felt his pulse flutter as Lex met him halfway, their lips barely touching. Clark opened his mouth ever so slowly and Lex accepted the invitation, exploring Clark’s mouth and allowing himself to be explored in return. When they finally parted, both of them were breathing heavily, but neither of them made any attempt to move away.

“You know,” Clark whispered as he leaned his forehead against Lex’s, smiling as Lex’s hands moved to his chest. “I think our relationship is going to be the stuff of legends.”

“You don’t say?”

“I do say.” Clark grinned. “Trust me.”

~*~ End ~*~


End file.
